Line Car Roof Progress

Another fascinating progress report from Gregg Wolfersheim on building the roof structure for the IT line car.  This is a lot different from anything else!

The roof of the 1702 is coming along. Most of the saddles are attached in this view.

One of the deck boards (in primer) is used to check the level of the saddles. They are all sitting on a bead of caulk, and several long wood screws hold them through the roof to the carlines.

Unfortunately, one carline was about a half an inch too high. I was unable to remove it to cut it down. The caulk really holds it well! Brought the power planer out and took care of that quickly.

Several of the deck boards got some paint today. They were previously cut to proper length and primed.

A hole was drilled through the roof and the power cable brought back up from below. Near the second saddle there is actually a connector to the rest of the cable as it heads towards the middle of the roof. It's a motor connector using brass gladhand style. I rewrapped the whole cable with friction tape after covering the connector with regular electrical tape.

Another hole was made today for the smoke jack. The car has a coal stove for heat. The stove pipe is about 5 inches in diameter, but there is a larger collar that supports it and keeps the hot pipe from contacting the wood roof. The collar is close to 9 inches in diameter. So, that hole is just big enough for the collar to pass through. Notice the power cable in the background heading to where the trolley base will sit.